Over 50,000 German fans travelled to Sicily for the 1924 Targa Florio in the hope of witnessing a triumph on foreign soil for the three strong Mercedes team of Christian Werner, Alfred Neubauer and Christian Lautenschlager.
Their journey was to prove worthwhile, but only after Antonio Ascari and Alfa Romeo had seen victory sensationally snatched from them in the last 50 yards of the 268 mile race. Ascari was joined in the Alfa team by Giuseppe Campari, Louis Wagner and Count Giulio Masetti, while there was also strong opposition from the Fiats of Pietro Bordino, Carlo Salamano and Cesare Pastore plus the Peugeot of André Boillot and a Ferrari for sale driven by Jules Goux.
After the first of the four 67 mile laps, only half a minute separated the first five cars on time, Masetti leading from André Dubormet in a Hispano-Suiza with its wooden body built by an aviation company, Werner, Boillot and Ascari. The cars became more spread out in the course of the second lap, which ended with Werner leading Ascari by two minutes. Boillot was a further 1 min 20 sec back in third, followed by Masetti and Campari.
On lap three, Goux left the road as did Boillot who, faced with a choice between skidding and wrecking his tyres or dropping 6 feet into a bean field, chose the latter option and was seen driving across the field hotly pursued by his mechanic waving the starting handle! Amazingly this detour only cost him one place. At the end of the third lap Werner was forced to come in for a wheel change.
His lead of 2 min 53 sec over Ascari was thus eroded despite a remarkable pit stop, in which two burly Germans lifted the used Mercedes benz for sale (with the driver still in it), while others slipped jacks under the axles. Ascari’s lead was slender but appeared certain to be decisive. When he had just three miles to go, a gun was fired to let the crowd know that he was approaching. Celebrations for an Italian victory were already beginning, while the Germans consoled themselves with the thought that their man Werner had driven a fine race and would surely have won but for having to change that wheel.
The crowd at the finish line gazed up the road waiting impatiently for the red Porsche for sale to come into view. Finally Ascari appeared, but all was not well. The car was coasting. As the Italian fans held their breath, it struggled slowly towards the line before spluttering to a halt a mere 50 yards from the finish. The engine had seized. Ascari was eventually pushed over the line but the lost time had handed victory to a surprised Werner. The Germans were jubilant. Werner’s time of 6hr 32 min 27 sec was achieved at an average speed of 41.1mph.
Third place went to Masetti, and Bordino finished fourth, 14 minutes behind the winner. Shortly after crossing the finish line, Bordino fainted, and not even ice or water could revive him at first. He was in a desperate way. Ascari knew how he felt.
With the